I like to make all kinds of quilts, from postcard to king-size. I have a Gammill longarm quilting machine, several domestic sewing machines, and also work with a Babylock Embellishing machine. In the past few years, I have tried my hand at painting with watercolors and art journaling. I also throw in a little nature photography and the occasional travel or grandchild pictures. Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, May 22, 2009

Wildflower Walk

I am so lucky to have a nice street with lots of nature to view when I am walking my old doggy. There are fields, woods, ponds, and creeks, affording all kinds of flora and fauna. In the past week I have seen two male redtail hawks performing an airborne battle over a third, presumably female hawk; two little tweety-birds chasing a great blue heron through the sky, and almost stepped on a brown water snake wriggling through the grass near the pond.

The divinely sweet smell of honeysuckle is permeating the air with intoxicating scents.

It tends to be very invasive around here. It winds its way up bushes

, trees, fences

but I don't care since it smells SO GOOD and attracts hummingbirds and butterflies.

I noticed a field of daisies in the new, still uninhabited neighborhood down the street and hiked through the tall grass to get a nice close-up.

There is also a bluish-purple wildflower growing in one of the empty lots in the new neighborhood. I think it is a type of vetch. Very unusual color!

And it is always fun to see what is going on in the ponds around the neighborhood. This one is where the ducks like to hang out, not to mention turtles and frogs.

We are off to the mountains again as soon as I get off work this afternoon. It will be a three-day weekend since we celebrate Memorial Day on Monday.

Last night at guild, our speaker was the founder of a non-profit organization called Military Missions in Action. You could have heard a pin drop in the room as he spoke of the organization's work to modify homes for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In my twenty-one years in the guild, I don't ever remember a standing ovation for a speaker until Mike Dorman spoke last night. In honor of Memorial Day, you may want to visit the website, see the great work these volunteers are doing to help our young people suffering from loss of limbs, head injuries, or even post-traumatic stress disorder, and see if there is some way that you or your organization can help out. The guild has chosen MMIA to be the recipient of our Heritage Auction in October. I am going to get busy making items to sell at the auction.